Shadow of the Vampire is a movie that opened in the United States on December 29, 2000. It was directed by E. Elias Merhige and written by Steven Katz, and it stars John Malkovich, Willem Dafoe and Udo Kier. The film is a fictionalized account of the making of the classic vampire film Nosferatu, directed by F.W. Murnau, in which the film crew begin to suspect that their lead actor is not all that he seems.

Shadow of the Vampire is a film about the making of a German all time classic silent horror-movie from 1922 called Nosferatu-Eine Symphonie des Grauens (Nosferatu-a Symphony of Horror). The production of Nosferatu had to deal with a lot of strange things (some crew members disappeared, some died). This movie focuses on the difficult relationship between Murnau, the director, and Schreck, the lead actor. Written by Anonymous

Max Schreck's performance in the classic film Nosferatu has become legendary. What if the reason he was so good is that he really was a vampire? That's the premise of this film, which features director F.W. Murnau so enamored with creating the perfect vampire film that he seeks out an actual member of the undead to play the title role. But when Schreck starts taking more and more advantage of the opportunities to feed he suddenly has, can Murnau come to his senses and destroy him? Written by rmlohner